Proudest community achievement: Teaching basic financial management to middle school and high school students through BestPrep’s classroom programs

Education: B.S., family environment, Iowa State University (1984)

Family: Husband, Dan; two daughters

When Bridget Handke’s father got laid off at age 57, she watched him roll over his pension and manage his retirement on his own. In later years, she was shocked by how little some of her female friends knew about money.

Today, as a financial adviser and 7 percent owner of Edina-based KLB Financial, she does what she’s always wanted to do: help people take charge of their own money.

Handke works on the Financial Planning Association’s Symposium Committee and helps run a study group for young female financial advisers. Her goal is to encourage more women to become financial advisers.

“Only 30 percent of financial advisers are women, and of those, only 8 percent are client-facing,” Handke says. “But the job is mostly relationship management, and women tend to excel at that. The legal profession develops successors really well, but our industry still needs to come to terms with how we develop people’s careers.”

Handke volunteers with BestPrep’s Financial Matters and EMentors classroom programs, where she teaches financial basics such as budgeting, credit and other topics to middle school and high school students.

She also has acted as a judge for the Minnesota Business Venture camp, BestPrep’s residential program for high school students, who learn about leadership, business, financial literacy and career options.

The more people know about finance, the better, she says.

“It’s up to individuals to manage their own financial lives, and it’s our job to help them,” Handke says.